“To po-pans’komu hovoryv, a to po-muzycomu”: il bilinguismo come mezzo espressivo e riflesso della lotta di classe nella letteratura ucraina degli anni Venti del Novecento

This paper reflects on the use of Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism in early Soviet Ukrainian literature, by focusing on some works by the writer Ostap Vyshnja and the playwright Mykola Kulish. Namely , two humorous stories by Ostap Vyshnja (Pershi kroky, 1924, and Vol’ovyj sposib, 1926) and the comedy Myna Mazajlo (1929) by Mykola Kulish are analysed through the close reading technique and a postcolonial approach, paying particular attention to the use of Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism. The analysis of these texts allow s to demonstrate how bilingualism is for the authors an effective tool for the identification of characters through their different social, generation-al, and political positions. Moreover, bilingualism proves useful in the representation of the colonial relationship between Ukrainian and Russian culture.